The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-09-08
THE CRIMSON SCARF.

THE CRIMSON SCARF.
Chow old did you say ?" asked the com
mander-in-chief.
nineteen"
"And the man."
6" A little older"
The commander-inc chief puffed his ci-
gar at thoughtful intervals. The war was
by % years a thing Of the past, but as
head of a great commercial enterprise
a military title still clung to him from out
of his war experience, and he did not dis
like it, for some Of his war memories ap-
peared to be his most cherished mental
treasures. So he debated with his cigar
over the two young people whose senti-
mental rashness had brought them into
public notice, and as he debated he was
looking backward over the diverse pano-
rama of two decades of life, through the
rifted smoke clouds of a great rebellion,
at little drama that seemed almost a
dream, but which to him was, perhaps,
the best remembered incident of all the
five years. fight. And when he told it,
half musingly, the listeners did not won
C,
and it sometimes happens to the least
imaginative in the madding crowd that
a face which is looked into only for a
moment is never forgotten in all the
length of the years that follow. Perhaps
it was so with the commander r-in-chief.
Perhaps not. In any event, nobody dar-
ed to ask.
"In the fall of ls63," he began. 81 was
stationed with detachment at Paint
Rock, Ala. We were drawing on the
enemy tor supplies; foraging, in fact.
Stevenson, but for fodder for our horses
and anything to add sumptuousness to
the appearance of the frying pan we had
to depend on the country. For some
weeks had sent out the wagon train to
the east, the southeast, and down the
valley of the Paint Rock creek The on
ly direction left for investigation was the
west, where, at distance Of 2l miles, was
Huntsville, then the capital of northern
Alabama, which, up to the time of the war
had been wealthy, aristocratic, and fash
ionoble city. Well, one pleasant morning
l sent the wagons across the creek and
followed them with a guard of 20 men. 1t
was reported from time to time that the
country ahead of US was full ofrebel guer-
rillas, but we saw no signs of them, and
for two months had no trouble whatever
with any foe.
"After crossing the creek the wagons
took a road which wound along the foot Of
a spur at the Blue Ridge mountains, which
rose, green, heavily wooded, and pictur-
esque at our backs. We passed several
small clearings and plantations, whose
log houses were filed with hot-blooded
and hot-tempered southern women, whose
evident desire to fay us with their finger
nails rather interfered with that sweet
spirit of hospitality for which the south
is famous. At a distance of seven miles
1 halted the detachment at a cool but
sinister-looking place in the road, known
to all :he country round about as the
Gap
1.-THE Gap was the entrance to pass
through one of the outlying mountain
spurs. It was q deep hollow, heavily
wooded. The dense growth of towering
pines and frs grew close to the roadside.
The woody spaces were so filled with un-
dergrowth, and blocked by falleo trees
that ss you peered into the dark recesses
of the forest on either side hostile army
might have been sheltered there without
your being able to perceive button. l
remember the looks Of the place because
the first time saw it it made me rather
uneasy, and the last time but one that
saw it I came near staying there for good,
as did, in fact, some other poor fellows who
were not 80 fortunate.
"Well, after q rest, we kept on, and q
few miles further we came on plantation OF
75O acres, with large and comfortable
looking residence near the roadside. The
wagons had reached there long before US.
They are being rapidly filled from row OF
we'll stored corncribs at the back of the
house. 1 had just gotten off my horse
near the door when two girls came toward
me, aud if were not telling this story,
gentlemen, would honestly declare that
they were the two prettiest girls l ever
saw in my life.
"They were both tall and slender, with
graceful and womanly figures. They
were dressed in dark blue calico, and had
no artificial aids to their fresh young beau
ty. Their faces were intelligent and full
Of resolution, yet marked by that shyness
which belongs to girls who are well born
and bred in comparative seclusion. The
elder. Ellen, was dsrkeyed and dark-hair
ed. Addie was II, two years younger
than her sister, and . yellow-haired and
blue-eyed blonde. The aPparition they
presented astonished %. / think all the
man took off their hats instincttivsly.
know / did. And a. my hat was . rea
Mexican sombrsro, and matched the long
Mexican spurs that jingled on my heels
I was rather fond Of keeping 1t on my
head.
at was Ellen who spoke, the Other
staying little behind, Sir, she said
in troubled voice, you look like . gen.
tlemsn. One Of your men has taken oul
guitar. It 10 al that We have left, and II
a<Nf ~